Education nominees face Congress today

TWO EDUCATION NOMINEES FACE CONGRESS TODAY: The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee this afternoon will take up the nominations of two people for top Education Department jobs — Mick Zais for deputy secretary and Jim Blew for assistant secretary of the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development. Both are expected to face tough questions from Democrats about Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ record on education issues and her decisions this year. They could field a number of tough questions about their own records as well.

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— Zais, a retired Army brigadier general, checks off a lot of conservative boxes. He was most recently superintendent of South Carolina schools until he announced in 2014 that he wouldn't run for reelection. As superintendent, Zais refused to participate in the Obama administration’s signature Race to the Top program, which encouraged states to adopt more rigorous academic standards like the Common Core in exchange for federal grants. Zais saw the standards, which were never mandated by the Obama administration, as federal overreach.

— Ranking Democrat Patty Murray could raise concerns about Zais’ past support for expanding school choice and his skepticism over early childhood education, according to prepared remarks shared by a Democratic aide with Morning Education. Zais previously opposed expanding public kindergarten for 4-year-olds, citing costs and that it could put private- and faith-based programs out of business. He has also been skeptical about the lasting benefits of early childhood education, citing studies of Head Start, a federal preschool program for low-income families.

— Murray could also raise concerns about Zais’ past support for abstinence-based sex education and about comments he made in 2014, reported by The Post and Courier at the time, about the teaching of natural selection in schools. Zais said, "We ought to teach both sides” of the principle “and let students draw their own conclusions." Murray is expected to tell Zais that his comments “make me question your ability to help set a course for this agency based on facts, science and evidence.”

— Blew, in turn, is the director of the advocacy group Student Success of California, which advocates for performance-based systems for teachers and supports charter schools. He has also served as president of Students First, the national advocacy organization founded by former D.C. Chancellor Michelle Rhee. Murray plans to raise concerns about Blew’s history of supporting school choice, noting that the office he has been nominated for “is critical in developing and implementing policy — which impacts every student in the country. So your record of promoting school vouchers gives me pause that you will not stand up for students and public schools.”

— Chairman Lamar Alexander is expected to say that Zais “has an excellent and deep background” for the position of deputy secretary, according to prepared remarks provided by a Republican aide. Alexander will also note that Blew has spent two decades working to improve “educational opportunities for families and children by overseeing grants to low-income, high risk schools.”

— Absent from the hearing will be Michigan state Rep. Tim Kelly, after the Trump administration this week formally pulled his nomination for a top career and technical education post at the Education Department. Kelly, a Republican, was axed because of statements that he made on his blog, the "Citizen Leader," between 2009 and 2012. In his blog, Kelly called for banning all Muslims from air travel, said that women aren't interested in science careers and labeled low-income preschool parents "academically and socially needy." In an interview with POLITICO last week, Kelly accused the "deep state," "haters" and federal employees who don't like President Donald Trump for making the nomination process "toxic" and "intrusive."

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TRUSTEES’ TAKE ON HIGHER EDUCATION: A majority of trustees of the nation’s colleges and universities see a need for change to higher education’s business model, according to a new survey out today. More than a third say the model should change “drastically,” while 58 percent would like moderate change. Separately, just 38 percent of the trustees believe institutions are willing to make the change.

— The findings are part of the AGB 2017 Trustee Index, which is a national survey of trustees conducted by Gallup under the direction of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

— When asked to identify their biggest concerns, at the top were the price of college, student debt and the ability of higher education to respond to changing student and employer needs. Just 22 percent of trustees said they believe that preparing graduates for the workforce is the most important role of higher education in the 21st century. But a little over half said they believe colleges and universities are doing a good job doing so. Read more here.

DEPARTMENT IG OBJECTS TO HIGHER ED POLICY CHANGES: The Education Department's independent watchdog has objected to parts of DeVos' delay of Obama-era regulations aimed at curbing abuses by for-profit colleges, Michael Stratford reports. The Office of the Inspector General internally objected to the Trump administration's postponement of certain provisions of the "gainful employment" and "borrower defense to repayment" rules, according to an Oct. 31 letter to lawmakers. Kathleen Tighe, the inspector general, wrote that her office recognized the authority of a new administration to set new policy, but expressed concerns about the delay of specific provisions that were aimed at combating waste, fraud and abuse in the student aid programs or protecting taxpayers.

— Tighe also said her office planned to make recommendations “to improve borrower defense claims processing as well as other information for policy makers to consider during the upcoming negotiated rulemaking sessions” by the end of November.

TITLE IX RULES A ‘PERSONAL PRIORITY’ FOR DEVOS, ADVISER SAYS: Issuing new guidance for schools dealing with sexual harassment and assault is a “personal priority” for DeVos, one of her senior advisers, Robert Eitel, told a House committee on Tuesday. Eitel made the comments during an update on the administration's attempts to roll back education regulations. He said most of the more than 16,000 comments from the public about the rollback had to do with civil rights guidance, including Title IX. In September, DeVos scrapped Obama-era campus sex assault guidance and put interim rules in place. She has promised to issue permanent guidance through a notice-and-comment period, which has yet to begin. Benjamin Wermund has more.

— Speaking of regulatory reform, DeVos described the effort as “very serious house cleaning” in a question-and-answer session at The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council event. She and Eitel separately touted that the administration has scrapped roughly 600 "out-of-date" guidance documents. Also during the Q&A: DeVos addressed persistent rumors that her days are numbered, saying she’s "absolutely not" stepping down any time soon. Ben has more.

SENATE REPUBLICAN EXPRESSES CONFIDENCE IN HEALTH RESEARCH LANDSCAPE: Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees health and education funding, said Tuesday he’s confident that the budget Congress finalizes for fiscal 2018 won't include a provision the Trump administration sought that would cap overhead costs for what NIH covers at 10 percent of the total research grant. "The infrastructure and the support that you have has to be there for you to be able to compete and participate," said Blunt, speaking to university leaders at the Association of Public & Land-grant Universities’ annual conference.

— Under the current system, NIH pays roughly 28 percent of the overhead costs — known as “facilities and administrative costs.” Both Senate and House appropriators inserted language in their respective funding bills (S. 1771, HR 3358) that defy the administration's proposal, which was strongly opposed by the higher education community.

— Despite the Trump administration's proposal to cut overall NIH funding by 22 percent, which appropriators also rejected, Blunt said there are signs that the administration may be warming up to the agency. Blunt said he’d “like to think” that as the administration has talked more to officials at the NIH, including Director Francis Collins, that it “began to look at these issues differently.”

WHAT IT TAKES TO PREPARE KIDS FOR CAREERS: There has been a shift in Tennessee, according to state Education Commissioner Candice McQueen. “We used to say, ‘Where are you going to college?’ ... Now we’re saying, ‘How are you planning to continue your education?’” she said, speaking at the Council of Chief State School Officers’ annual legislative conference in St. Louis.

— State education leaders from across the country have gathered in the Gateway City for the conference this week. McQueen on Tuesday talked about how Tennessee is placing a greater emphasis on making sure kids are prepared for a job and a career. McQueen said she used to think that an education was “the fastest pathway out of poverty” for some students, but it’s really a job or a career. Education is how students get there, she said.

— McQueen praised Bill Haslam, Tennessee’s Republican governor, for leading the push with his “Drive to 55” initiative. It is aimed at ensuring 55 percent of Tennesseans have a college degree or certificate by the year 2025. McQueen noted that under the Every Student Succeeds Act, the state is taking a closer look at “early postsecondary opportunities,” including whether students are earning certain industry certifications. The state is also paying for dozens of counselors across the state to work with students as they navigate career and technical education paths, she said.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

— The Council of Chief State School Officers Board of Directors has chosen CCSSO Deputy Executive Director Carissa Miller to serve as interim executive director in the new year. Chris Minnich, the current executive director, is stepping down early next year. The organization, which represents state education leaders nationwide, has selected a firm to conduct a national search for a new executive director. More.

REPORT ROLL CALL

— Instead of promoting vouchers, Congress should increase school choice options for rural students by enhancing access to educational technology in their public school systems, AASA, The School Superintendents Association, and the Rural School and Community Trust argue in a new report out today. The authors of the report, which explores the state of education in rural America, say that “deploying education technology … is a game-changer for rural school districts.”

— The National Council on Teacher Quality, a think tank, is out with an analysis that says state plans under the Every Student Succeeds Act aren’t doing enough to ensure low-income and minority students aren’t disproportionately taught by inexperienced or ineffective teachers.

— New Jersey has made little, if any, progress in reducing the segregation of black and Hispanic students in the state’s schools, according to a new report from the UCLA Civil Rights Project. It finds that more than a quarter of black students in New Jersey attend schools where less than 1 percent of students are white, and the number of Hispanic students attending segregated schools has doubled since 1989.

— A new survey commissioned by the Children’s Home Society of Virginia found that while the number of young people aging out of foster care is on the rise, education outcomes among this population remain poor. Just 58 percent of young people aging out of foster care graduate high school by age 19, compared to 86 percent of the general population. Less than 3 percent obtain a college degree by age 25, compared to 28 percent of the general population.

— The state of Texas lacks a cohesive approach to helping more than 113,000 students who’ve been identified as homeless at one point, according to a new report from the nonprofit Texas Appleseed and the Texas Network of Youth Services.

SYLLABUS

— Fired testing company seeks $25.3 million for work on TNReady’s bumpy rollout: Chalkbeat.

About The Author : Kimberly Hefling

Prior to joining POLITICO Pro in summer 2015, Ms. Hefling served as the national education writer for The Associated Press. During her 18-year career at the AP, she covered diverse topics that included veterans and military home front issues and Pennsylvania politics. She also served as an embedded reported with the 101st Airborne Division early in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In 2015, she received third place in education writing in the National Headliner Awards competition.

She is a native of Wichita, Kansas, and graduated from Kansas State University. She’s married and enjoys going to parks, swimming pools and libraries with her two young kids.